Lincolnshire: Plan submitted for WW2 amphibious vehicle museum

Plans have been submitted for a new museum in Crowland to house the Buffalo LVT

An application has been made to build a museum in Lincolnshire to house a World War Two landing craft.

The Buffalo LVT (landing vehicle, tracked) was dug up by volunteers in Crowland in 2021.

The amphibious vehicle was brought to Lincolnshire to be part of flood defences in 1947 - but was swept away and sank in a muddy hole.

Volunteers dug it out, restored it and have applied for planning permission to South Holland District Council.

The application from the Crowland Buffalo LVT Association is for a museum in a former farm building on Kennulphs Farm, Wrights Grove, in Crowland, near Spalding.

Daniel Abbott from the association said they "want it on display within the Crowland area, to connect it to the local history".

He said he would like the museum to have a facsimile of the shops and buildings of Crowland as they were during World War Two.

The team is hoping to get the Buffalo LVT moving again but have said that more fundraising will be required.

The money would pay for further restoration work including installing the vehicle's electrical wiring.

Mr Abbott said he would like to see it running again in time for the 80th anniversary of VE Day in 2025.

The amphibious vehicle was one of 16 deployed to the town in March 1947 after floods caused the nearby River Welland to burst its banks.

They were used to form a temporary flood defence, but as the flood water was pumped back, five of the 26ft-long (8m) machines floated away.

Volunteers suggested more could be recovered in the future.

Mr Abbott said the team needed to raise about £30,000 to recover the next one, and added he "would like to see another one out of the ground before I peg it".